Confused about a collegue at work,Help!

[prats]

Hi,

This problem of mine is purely professional.I dont know if only women find themselves in such situations, neverthless please help.

Me and my collegue (both women) joined on the same day at work,sit in adjacent cubes in our work. However my collegue (will call her X through) is not very good at her work, she takes her own sweet time in finishing the work assigned. Unfortunately since we both joined on the same day,our manager gives the same kind of work split into half, I finish my work and post my work in the common repository ,way before and asks my manager for more work ..

( I had bitter experiences in the past for not completing my work fast so now I changed the way I work, I submit it as fast as I can.)...

she waits till that moment and copies my stuff( how I know this, she showed me her work before and after my checkin)...and she does it super fast...and she doenst even have a tinge of guilt and carries herself with great attitude(for me itseems false attitude,I pity her at times).She boasts to have good expirience but that doesnt at all reflect in her work.

She constantly asks me doubts , and observe the way I do stuff, and if some one else happened to ask her the same doubt, she talks as if its her own idea. For example I use google desktop to search my file system.She one day asked what it was, I told her, after few days some other collegue saw her using and unfortunately she sits next to me and she told her as if she has been using that tool for long time.(I also got to know about the desktop search from others not that I invented it myself, but if it were me I would say well this tool is very helpful and I came to know from X,as the X is right next to me).

Such small things are disturbing me, should I be feeling concerned ? are these women thigns? or in general common at workplace. How do guys handle these?I wonder how good ,some men are at handling such stuff, they really dont care.Should I also really dont care ?

I cant tell such things to my manager as I dont want to spoil the cardial relationship and the work environment.and these are petty things I guess but she boasts about her experience.

One day ,we were given the same tasks with slight modifications, she tried a bit and then looked at my logic and openly asked, can I use your logic as mine is taking a very long time. I dint know how to respond, I said your wish.Then at the end when both our work is reviewed my manager doenst keep track of who completed first and he thinks it as re-using the code.But I want to be appreciated .

Please help me, how others handle such situations.

[Ninja]

Just say no.

If she asks you if she can use something of you, just say: "no, you cannot. I worked hard on this and for once, I'd like to take the credit myself. Shoo! Shoo!"

You have two choices here: either you A) suffer her Glare Of Death (no doubt she has one) for a few days until she realizes that she will have to find someone else to leech off, or B) you quietly sit still and take it, swallowing both your pride and your self-respect while she eventually gets a raise/promotion/exciting project as a reward for all the hard work "she" has done.

Think about it for a moment. Really think about it. Do you honestly believe it will end here? Now she's just mooching off your time and effort, but what will she do in a few months? People like her always keep trying to cross your boundries and once they do, it's much harder to push them back rather than standing your ground in the first place.

Just. Say. NO.

[MyEyeIsOpen]

Don't stir anything up. You need to invent a way to allow your boss to discover the truth without your input. One way I can think of is to make an excuse about why you can't use the repository for a while -- instead, turn the material in personally, in a way that X can't get it first. Then she'll be floundering. This will help the boss come to realize who is doing quality work, and X come to realize the value of self reliance.

You should be aware of two things though. First, talking badly of people will make you look like the bad guy to everyone else, no matter how right you are. Second, successful employees spend 50% of their time networking (brown-nosing), while effective employees spend hardly any. Effective people get pats on the back, successful people get promotions. You sound like the effective type, X sounds like the successful type.

[Brutha]

Somehow it seems inefficent if you both do the same thing.

[prats]

All, Thanks for the opnions.

I actually dint get what Brutha is trying to say. We both are doing the same thing in different context, which requires small changes.

And the point by MyEyeIsOpen, I tried to tell my manager that I will mail him my work but tht dint work out well.

Ninja, thanks for that, I actually read a book called 'How to say No and still get to us' by William Ury to help me with this problem

[uberinquisitive]

I was in a similar position.

My former boss had his Japanese secretary, and then me. When I was hired, I was the English-speaking secretary. We had duplicate job functions, although in slightly different ways.

There was ALOT of friction, until I decided I had enough. I started projects proactively. I volunteered to help out other people. I went above and beyond my job title BIG TIME. My other co-workers really appreciated my help. My boss was impressed by my proactive-ness. I still did my normal admin duties, but because I was receiving a lot of praise for my own projects, I stopped caring about being recognized for my admin work.

Take what you do to another level. Do out-of-the-box thinking. Be creative, proactive. Don't lower yourself to X's level - instead, go above her.

[prats]

Thanks uberinquisitive ,thats a good idea, I am trying to do the same.